The abandoned Central Bank building on State Street is an absolutely perfect venue for “The City Is Asleep And Dreaming,” a building wide set of installations and performance art organized by Jason Bernagozzi and Evelyne LeBlanc-Roberge. We had a little trouble getting in the door last night. That too may have been part of a performance piece. A piece of red duct tape on the lock had worn thin and the dead bolt was keeping the door shut so we knocked for entry. This formerly grand section of town is still creepy but I have faith that it is only sleeping. Jason’s piece is stunning, the setting, the sound, the movement, the whole package. Evelyne’s two video projections on glass doors in this same chamber are otherworldly and beautiful. Remember Init Two?
Onward. First Friday comes but once a month. My father told us about a show at the Axom Gallery on Anderson Avenue of recent paintings by Kurt Moyer entitled, “The New Arcadia.” Kurt’s oil paintings of bathers in woods-like settings combine touches of early Picasso chunky figures, Cezanne’s bather paintings and Maxfield Parrish’s color sense with luscious paint handling. My father had run into Kurt in the woods off Westfall. Kurt was painting Mayflowers and my father, who often paints and sketches in the woods, was cataloging leaves and tree types.
A few more stops and we were home in time to watch “Gerhard Richter Painting.” We were prompted to watch it by an Angel Corpus Christi’s post. I knew I would love this because I love his paintings. I did a portrait of him a long time ago when I was painting my favorite artists. I threw his away because he looked like Henry Kissinger. Whether abstract or near photographic, his paintings are jaw-droppingly beautiful. I was struck by how he paints, blank canvases hung on white, gallery-like walls, and the way he works on multiple paintings at once. I loved his answer to how he knows when to stop. “When there is nothing wrong with the picture.” I don’t really care about the man behind the work but Gerhard seems like a likable chap. I loved his German assessment of the American openness, how they tell you exactly what they think.
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